Leeds Player Ratings: Leeds 1 - 0 Sheffield Wednesday

Leeds United produced an excellent performance to claim a 1-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday, and take a 3 point lead over promotion rivals Sheffield United.

Marcelo Bielsa’s men dominated the match and in truth should have won by a greater margin, not extending the lead being the only disappointment on an excellent day for Leeds where Jack Harrison’s goal proved enough to claim the win.

Leeds have generally struggled against teams playing 4-4-2, as they aren’t as strong in 3-3-1-3 as they are in a 4-1-4-1. I think that today was Leeds’ strongest performance in a 3-3-1-3 formation.

Time now to look at each player and how they performed. As always you can tell me how wrong I am @mightywhitespod or @ThruItAllLUFC on twitter.

STARTING LINE-UP

Kiko Casilla - Not much to do, but made an excellent save from a Barry Bannan shot from about 25 yards. Distribution was fine, but had a couple of rash moments rushing out. 7/10

Pontus Jansson - Moved forward 5 yards too far for the chance when Gary Hooper got through on goal but outside of that he had an excellent performance. Won everything in the air until Atdhe Nuhiu was introduced when it became a more even contest. Tackled well and brought the ball out of defence well. 8/10

Kalvin Phillips - For me, his best performance in this role. Has not been able to be as effective as a 3rd CB as he is in the ‘Kalvin Role’ in front of the back four, but today he was excellent. Held his own in the air but what was really impressive was the way he managed to get his passing game going from a deeper area. He also was better at stepping forward from his CB role to create space and angles for Leeds to play out from the back more effectively. 8/10

Gaetano Berardi - Called on at late notice following Liam Cooper’s late withdrawal and produced a good performance. He wasn’t faultless and you could tell it had been a while since his last start but he never looked out of place. 7/10

Luke Ayling - Captain for the day and his performance was more than worthy of the armband. Got up and down the right-hand side tirelessly and was good at both ends of the pitch. Had a couple of efforts on goal and was unlucky to have one cleared off the line. Was also excellent defensively and made a great tackle on Gary Hooper when he got in behind for one of Wednesday’s few good moments in attack. 8.5/10

Mateusz Klich - Movement was good and passed the ball around well without fully stamping his authority on the match. Had a bit of a tired spell midway through the second half so it was surprising to see him withdrawn. 7/10

Ezgjan Alioski - Boundless energy as usual. Seemed like he made more successful tackles than anyone else on the pitch and kept popping up in attacking areas without quite getting his end product right. Gave the ball away too much to get a really high mark but still a good performance. 7/10

Tyler Roberts - Looked really classy on the ball and was a constant threat. Made the most of the space when Bamford dropped off from the front and his movement both as the ‘number 10’ and as a centre forward caused Wednesday real problems. Had a lot of shots - going close with a right foot curling effort and Keiren Westwood denying his excellent header from an Alioski corner. 8/10

Pablo Hernandez - Not the ridiculous levels he produced against Millwall but another good performance from the former Spain international. Played some sloppy passes but always looked a threat and was creative. Excellent pass to find Harrison for the winning goal. 7.5/10

Jack Harrison - Harrison in microcosm. Was fine in the first half, then in the second half he seemed not to be able to do anything right. Then found Bamford with a great knock down but he couldn’t turn it home. Then he popped up with a fantastic right foot finish into the bottom left hand corner to send Elland Road wild. 7/10

Patrick Bamford - Movement was fine, as was the hold up play. Had a couple of chances, the main one being the chance seconds before he was substituted from Harrison’s knock down. Would have liked to come out with a goal but his performance levels were fine. 6.5/10

SUBSTITUTES

Kemar Roofe (for Bamford, 64mins) - Replaced Bamford and had a similar level of performance. His hold up play wasn’t as good but he finished the big chance he got, only to be denied by what looked like a correct offside flag. 6/10

Adam Forshaw (for Klich, 76mins) - A very impressive cameo from Forshaw. His movement was really good and he was always providing an option. He seemed to never give the ball away and he produced a couple of really good defensive contributions. 7/10

Stuart Dallas (for Harrison, 86mins) - Brought on to be a bit more of a defensive option in front of Alioski. Lost Liam Palmer for one Sheff Wed attack but was fine other than that. Not on long enough to give a score. N/A